Larry Griffin
lgriffin@thesmokymountaintimes.com
The Town of Bryson City is close to finishing its portion of the road work on Everett Street that has been going on since July, according to Town Manager Sam Pattillo, who spoke at the weekly meeting at Anthony’s Pizza on Tuesday, Oct. 24.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation is “tentatively” then scheduled to begin the week of Nov. 6, he said.
Pattillo told several business owners in attendance that ultimately, it was out of his hands and he couldn’t promise that DOT would definitely start then.
Pattillo spoke as outside, the current underground utilities work is finishing up along Everett Street and the workers are beginning to patch over the road, so it isn’t just gravel. Drivers have been able to drive through the street normally during the day for the past few weeks.
He said there would be work beginning soon on cleaning up the roadblocks and the general area to make it so pedestrian crosswalks are back to the way they were before.
When Pattillo mentioned that the DOT might start its work the first week of November, Cori Litzau, co-owner of Anthony’s, said that might be the best possible solution if they end up doing that.
“The Polar Express starts on the 9th,” she said. “The week before, there’s no train Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. It’s a good time to do it. If they can just get it done, that’d be good.”
The DOT’s work is set to include various above-ground improvements like adding new medians, curb carve-outs and a new streetlight.
Some business owners expressed concern about the DOT’s ideas of how to change Everett Street, particularly adding a new traffic light at the intersection of Everett and Depot, which they said wouldn’t really alleviate traffic problems since there are other lights in close proximity already.
They also didn’t know if adding a median would work well and said the DOT’s work might cut into their available parking spaces on the street.
“They’re not going to funnel to this magic crosswalk if you just put in a median,” said Gianna Carson, owner of La Dolce Vita coffee shop and bakery on Everett Street.
Asked if the town could do anything to change what the DOT plans to do, Pattillo didn’t indicate there was much he could do.
“I will gladly try and email them again,” he said.